Dam safety
Dams store a great deal of water behind strong walls. This raises safety issues if a problem occurs with the dam wall. If a dam wall ‘broke’ the water in the dam would be released all at once. Without control the flash flood could devastate the environment, local animal life and any downstream human communities, roads or other structures.
A great deal of effort goes into making sure that dam walls are strong and long-lasting. They are designed to be able to withstand both the pressure of huge amounts of water and natural or man-made calamities such as earthquakes, car crashes or explosions.
Dams are designed by engineers with these considerations in mind. They are regularly checked by specialists, and constantly monitored by instruments to identify any issues before they become a problem.
These ongoing checks make sure that dams are working as intended, provide an early warning of any earth movements, erosion or other changes that could make the dam unsafe, help engineers understand how large any issue may be and provide them with information they need to help them fix any problems.
What is regularly measured:
- the movement of the dam and its foundations
- any leakage from the dam or its foundations
- water pressure
- the strength of the materials used in the dam
- water level in the lake and in rivers
- ground water level changes.
To help assist if there is an emergency, special plans are maintained and regularly tested for warning and, if necessary, evacuating areas below dams. These plans ensure that even if there is a calamity, as much as possible can be done to reduce the impacts on people, their homes and businesses and on the environment.